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Czech deputy PM to discuss Vrbetice incident at EU ministers’ meeting

Earlier leader of the Civic Democratic Party Petr Fiala told that the Czech right-wing parliamentary parties planned to discuss the issue on the Russian special services’ alleged involvement in the explosion at the ammunition depot in the village of Vrbetice in 2014
The Czech Republic’s Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Jan Hamacek EPA-EFE/MARTIN DIVISEK
The Czech Republic’s Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Jan Hamacek
© EPA-EFE/MARTIN DIVISEK

MOSCOW, April 18. /TASS/. The Czech Republic’s Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Jan Hamacek plans to discuss the incident in the country’s Vrbetice at the EU foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday, the politician, who is also the acting foreign minister, wrote on his Twitter account.

"I have tasked our representatives in the EU and NATO to inform our allies about the Vrbetice case. I will speak about this on Monday at the EU foreign ministers’ meeting," Hamacek said.

On Saturday, leader of the Civic Democratic Party Petr Fiala told reporters that the Czech right-wing parliamentary parties, which have 73 out of 200 seats in the lower house, planned to discuss at the April 20 meeting the issue on the Russian special services’ alleged involvement in the explosion at the ammunition depot in the village of Vrbetice in 2014.

Diplomats expulsion

At the emergency press conference on Saturday, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and Hamacek announced the expulsion of 18 staff of Russia’s Embassy in the Czech Republic, who were allegedly "officers of Russian special services."

This move came in connection with newly revealed consequences of the 2014 blast at the ammunition depot in the village of Vrbetice outside the city of Zlin in the east of the country, which killed two people. According to reports, "officers of Russia’s military intelligence" were allegedly involved in this incident.

The Czech police on Saturday put on the wanted list Russian nationals Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov. Local TV reports claimed that they could have masterminded the blast in order to hinder the supplies of ammunition and weapons stored at the Vrbetice depot to Ukraine as well as to Syria for illegal military units.

In comment on the Czech authorities’ move, Head of the Russian State Duma Committee on Foreign Affairs Leonid Slutsky noted that the Czech Republic took the Russophobe line of the US by expelling Russian diplomats. He stressed this step was completely unfounded and had no relation to the 2014 events. In her turn, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova announced that "Prague is well aware what follows such ‘tricks’.".